NBA.com: Jonas Top-10 Most Likely to Have Breakout Season

• Jonas Valanciunas, Toronto: Waiting for the 21-year-old Valanciunas, literally and figuratively, may have helped cost former GM Bryan Colangelo his job. But it was the right call. Valanciunas took a year to come over to the NBA after Colangelo took him No. 5 in the 2001 Draft. Valanciunas also took the better part of last season, his rookie season in Toronto, to start living up to his potential. But it's a vast potential, and Valanciunas should do even more this season.

He had a terrific Las Vegas Summer League, earning MVP honors while building on his last two months of the regular season. During those final two months, he shot 63 percent and was in double figures in 17 of the Raptors' last 19 games.

Toronto's hope is that the 7-foot-1 center makes an even bigger jump this season. The Raptors were using the words "Valanciunas" and "All-Star" in Vegas.

"He's still learning," Raptors coach Dwane Casey said Saturday. "The main thing with him is he had such a long way to go to learn the NBA, just the nuances of the NBA, the timing, the quickness ... he came in blind. We had to tell him who the players were, what their strengths were. And he missed all of training camp last year. That start [last season] was a lot of him not knowing what was going on, and getting his timing back. As the year got better, he got better."

Valanciunas has put on about 10 pounds from last season, which should be more than enough for him to be able to hold his position in the paint.

"We can go to him in the post," Casey said. "He's not a lot bigger, and plus, he doesn't need to get a lot bigger. You don't want him to bulk up too much. He's going to naturally get bigger by just getting older."

But his biggest improvements have to come at the defensive end. Fouls were a problem for him, as was understanding of the defensive three-second rules. The Raptors have worked with him extensively on the "Hibbert" (named after Roy, of course) defense -- jumping vertically to challenge shooters instead of reaching and hacking.

The combo of Vegas and playing for Lithuania in EuroBasket 2013 seems to have galvanized Valanciunas. The Raptors see a growing confidence in him.

"He's far more comfortable in the NBA games," Casey said. "More confident, moving with more confidence, understanding where to go, what to do. I thought it gave him a sense of belonging, that I belong here. He's got a little swagger from the Summer League. Just being one of our primary interior scorers will be a great year for him, quarterbacking out of the post. And defensively, understanding the nuances of the NBA, the speed of the NBA. We need a rim protector and he needs to be a rim protector for us."Source

The Other 9 on the List:

• Bradley Beal, Washington

• Eric Bledsoe, Phoenix

• Wilson Chandler, Denver

• Monta Ellis, Mavericks

• John Henson, Milwaukee

• Enes Kanter, Utah

• Andrei Kirilenko, Brooklyn

• Jeremy Lamb, Oklahoma City

• Cody Zeller, Charlotte

What do you guys think of the company they're putting him with?
I can see him having a better season than Zeller, Kanter and Henson; Kanter is going to have a big season though I think.

Mclemore as well, guy is a steal at 7. Valanciunas seems rather burnt out and tired in the games I've seen him play, either that or he is too heavy. I think he is going to be rather dissapointing to start the season.

JV deserves to be in this company. He finished his rookie season quite well, came to summer league noticeable bigger ( even with tattoo. ) crushed everyone, went to Eurobasket and helped Lithuania take silver, he fits in this company.

Jonas will have breakout season someday, but I don't think it will be in 13/14. He has a lot of basketball ahead of him, he's still 22 ( right? ) years old and I have no doubts if he avoids injuries and continues to work hard and play hard every single game he'll be good.

If JV shows breakout-type improvement this season and wins MIP, I buy 100 beer pints this June ( toronto RR meetup? ) Book it.

JV deserves to be in this company. He finished his rookie season quite well, came to summer league noticeable bigger ( even with tattoo. ) crushed everyone, went to Eurobasket and helped Lithuania take silver, he fits in this company.

Jonas will have breakout season someday, but I don't think it will be in 13/14. He has a lot of basketball ahead of him, he's still 22 ( right? ) years old and I have no doubts if he avoids injuries and continues to work hard and play hard every single game he'll be good.

If JV shows breakout-type improvement this season and wins MIP, I buy 100 beer pints this June ( toronto RR meetup? ) Book it.

Bradley Beal, Washington - agree
Eric Bledsoe, Phoenix - agree
Wilson Chandler, Denver - surprised by this pick. Denver is a hard team to predict now
Monta Ellis, Mavericks - disagree. With guys like Bledsoe, Klay Thompson, etc, I think there's still too much depth ahead of him despite gaudy stats
John Henson, Milwaukee - could see it
Enes Kanter, Utah - monster season
Andrei Kirilenko, Brooklyn - would be an intelligent choice but his stats wont pop to the casual fan.
Jeremy Lamb, Oklahoma City - interesting choice
Cody Zeller, Charlotte - I would be surprised. He's going to struggle to get touches next to the black hole of Al Jefferson

We'll see in the regular season, but I thought Jonas has looked a little too heavy. It looks like a bit of his quickness, agility, and vertical are gone, and he looked gassed more than last year.

Mind you, he's 7'1" and plays close to the basket. He's gonna naturally gain weight as he ages - should he focus on keeping trim and staying mobile, or should he keep putting on some pounds and look to push people around?

We'll see in the regular season, but I thought Jonas has looked a little too heavy. It looks like a bit of his quickness, agility, and vertical are gone, and he looked gassed more than last year.

Mind you, he's 7'1" and plays close to the basket. He's gonna naturally gain weight as he ages - should he focus on keeping trim and staying mobile, or should he keep putting on some pounds and look to push people around?

That's normal, I think.

When I was younger, I never done any cardio when I'm on bulking phase, I gained a lot of muscle and weight but I was windy all the time after 1-2 minutes high intense exercise. ( but in middle of cutting phase I was feeling awesssome! )

Nowadays we all add couple cardio sessions ( p/w ) during bulking phase, just to feel good, stay healthy. For non-athlete body its enough. But not for the guys like JV. In order to gain muscle he had to cut down his cardio schedule to minimum and that's why he looks windy all the time. It's completely normal, and it takes time to get back to healthy shape when you're an professional athlete. He'll be just fine!

About his vertical - I don't think he's lost any vertical at all. He's got habit of jumping only when his foot is fully on the floor, and it looks like he's lost his vertical. JV gotta jump from his toes when fighting for rebounds, I'm pretty sure Casey and JV knows that, it's just hard for the brain to kill this habit when all his years ( before he came to NBA ) he was probably told to jump from his foot all the time.

I think he's still a couple number of years away from being a good to great player.

There's still something "off" with him. I've seen him play live a couple of times and he seems "robotic". He can get rebounds because he's huge and has long arms and does know how to get into position, but it seems he has no fluidity, like a duncan or garnett. He seems to have no "moves" and always seems to muscle his way in. His touch around the rim tho is quite good. He has a very fundamental jumper, not like a McGee or Howard who makes you cringe everytime you see them shoot. He's a good defender because he stands his ground and does get out muscled, but he has no lift when blocking shots. It's weird tho because in highlights when he was still U19, he swats shots and goes up for dunks like crazy, but i guess the bulk and being more cautious with injuries slowed him down drastically.

I think he's still a couple number of years away from being a good to great player.

There's still something "off" with him. I've seen him play live a couple of times and he seems "robotic". He can get rebounds because he's huge and has long arms and does know how to get into position, but it seems he has no fluidity, like a duncan or garnett. He seems to have no "moves" and always seems to muscle his way in. His touch around the rim tho is quite good. He has a very fundamental jumper, not like a McGee or Howard who makes you cringe everytime you see them shoot. He's a good defender because he stands his ground and does get out muscled, but he has no lift when blocking shots. It's weird tho because in highlights when he was still U19, he swats shots and goes up for dunks like crazy, but i guess the bulk and being more cautious with injuries slowed him down drastically.

For Jonas I don't think it's a quickness thing, it's just with bigs knees are such a massive issue and a player like Jonas who jumps a lot he can easily get lots of injury problems. So, the team is rightfully, treating him and his body with kid gloves.